PART 2: Stately Houses
of Trabzon
Stately Houses: Akçaabat is located within sight of Trabzon, at the western edge
of the broad bay that includes the bigger city. One should not be put off by the
drab appearance of the downtown area: the residential districts on the hillside
contain one of the best preserved collections of old Pontic houses to be found
anywhere along the coast, making the town a veritable open-air museum of
traditional Black Sea architecture.
The town's other claims to distinction include the most celebrated horon dancers
of the Trabzon region, who may be caught at any of the yayla festivities in the
vicinity, such as the Hıdırnebi feast which features a horon round of more than
500 men and women and takes place between July 18 and 22 on a hilltop near the
Duzköy turnoff. Another sight is the delightful women's market held every
Tuesday which transforms the otherwise nondescript lower town into a brilliant
sea of reds and whites, as peştemal-clad peasant women come down from the
mountains to sell their fresh produce.
Akçaabat was known in the past as Platana, in reference to the plane trees which
the local natives reportedly worshipped in pagan times. The majestic
tree continued to be venerated even in later ages, to the great consternation of
Christian and Muslim moralists. Today they still stand in clumps on the
hillside, their sublime past forgotten, but their stately shadow a constant
presence in the gardens that grace each of the old mansions.
The town consists of three quite distinct hillside sections: Durbinar,
Ortamahalle and Gramba. In the past, Muslim Turks inhabited the first while
Greeks formed a majority in the latter two. The town was shelled and a large
part of it burned down during the Russian occupation of 1916, so that what one
can see now is only a tiny fraction of what existed in the past century. Among
those buildings destroyed were all but one of the 36 churches mentioned in early
sources.
Ortamahalle, on the middle one of the three ridges that rise above the town,
provides the best example of what Akçaabat might have looked like a hundred
years ago. Its twisting cobblestone streets are too narrow and steep for most
cars and only the clamor of children at play echoes in the neighborhood. Women
dominate the street scene. Out of a second story window, a housewife asks a
neighbor about the market rate for tomatoes. Rows of
corn
on the cob, to which
tradition attributes the power to bring peace and prosperity to the household,
hang from the windows shining a bril¬liant yellow in the morning sun. The
inhabitants are more than willing to welcome a visitor inside their house and
will sometimes make an invitation even before the stroller has summoned the
courage to ask for it.
The 40 or so houses in Ortamahalle that retain their original character display
certain common traits. All of them face east or north, with panoramic views of
the valley and the sea. The upstairs living quarters are arranged around a
spacious selamlık, the reception and main living room. Many houses keep the
original ornamental woodwork in the interior, representing the last surviving
examples
of what once used to be one of the leading crafts of the Black Sea. On the
ground floor are the kitchen and service quarters, surrounded by a lusl
vegetable garden and shaded by vine arbors and pomegranate trees.
The structural basis of all private buildings is timber, sometimes with round
floor built of cut stone. Façade~ are plastered in stucco and painted it pastel
colors, leaving only the frarrnc and border beams exposed. Some have
impressively colonnaded front porches, complete with elaborate stone capitals.
Window frames and pediments reflect a fine grasp of the esthetic principles and
proportions of classical architecture. The best examples of these are on the
group of house lining Dutlu ("Mulberry") Street. The fine large residence on the
narrow street that leads to the church was formerly a Greek schoolhouse. A
stately four-storey mansion in the Gramba district on the next hill to the west
has a very vivid fresco painted on the facade above its entrance.
The former Church of Archangel Michael, built under Emperor Manuel II in 1332,
is now used as a private residence while the associated chapel serves as a barn.
Only the battered cupola, rising stubornly above the walls, signals its presence
from the outside. In the courtyard one can see some tarnished gravestones
scattered about next to piles of bricks and other household items. Inside the
church, the
mosaics on the floor are still discernible and a big pile of
firewood lies unceremoniously in the apse.
The neighborhood mosque of Ortamahalle, dates from the early 19th century and is
notable for the extremely fine wood carving of its minber (preacher's pulpit).
PART 1:
Hazelnut Country
PART 2:
Stately Houses
PART 3:
Texas in Turkey
PART 4:
Birds, Castles, Lost Churches
PART 5:
Cherrytown
PART 6:
Şebinkarahisar
PART 7:
Ordu to Unye
PART 8:
The Flatlands
PART 9:
A Historic Metropolis
PART 10:
Paphlagonia
PART 11:
The Tail End | 
